The article titled, “Akufo-Addo Sneaks To T.B. Joshua” and published in Daily Post of 22nd August, 2012 was another in the series of political pieces purportedly crafted by some political midgets to attack Nigeria’s popular prophet, T.B. Joshua.

Nana Akufo-Addo

The world has remained increasingly shocked by the high level of political mimicry and treachery which some campaign coordinators and desperate political stalwarts demonstrated so far, forgetting that Ghana’s independence happened in 1957 as a leading country which ought to be respected by all others.

The crafty and power-obsessed political campaigners have decided, in their lack of wisdom, to keep attacking TB Joshua and his church as if they cannot think beyond their nose and embark on creative projects and electoral matters which could score them higher than the laughable rascality, mischief and scrawny commitments which they have shown so far.

Politics in Ghana, today, ought to be played by wise and quotable people; people with absolute confidence in their programmes for the masses and their ability to positively transform the society. These should be patriots who rely on truth and sincerity of purpose to project themselves and vision. The great names in Ghana’s political history would have helplessly turned in their graves with the way and manner recent political rapscallions and nitwits are going about politics in Ghana.

Frankly, some of the articles which people read in our newspapers, magazines and cyberspace these days are a collection of kindergarten pieces which should invoke shame in the Ghanaians who may read them. Rather than play politics of maturity and focus and discuss salient issues which will affect the lives of Ghanaians in consonance with the demands of the 21st century, some of our politicians and writers have become specialists in selling odious theories as agents of opposition; they attack fellow politicians using tools of lies, fabrications and intellectual conjurations without a foundation in truth and discipline.

While Ghanaians in all walks of life wait patiently to be told what our political parties have for us as manifestoes, what has kept bothering them in the issue of T.B. Joshua and his church in Lagos, Nigeria and one wonders how blackmail and political immaturity could be pushed to the doorsteps of a Nigerian who is not eligible to vote in the Ghana elections. To say the least, the pestilential politics played by some of our politicians could not have been an issue even in Siberia. Yet, Ghana should have a place in Africa’s history as a leading country and groomed by the late, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Common sense dictates that politics in Ghana should be about crucial issues of development, which include the elimination of poverty and criminality and entrenchment of interest in education, tourism, and development of the rural areas. We should move up from what Prof. Mills left behind, and practice politics of patriotism and not amateurism, of sincerity and seriousness of purpose and not egotism and satanic megalomania. For God’s sake, T.B. Joshua and those he prays for should not be our concern as Ghanaians, but what benefits awaits us after the elections must have taken place, and how we should maintain peace and order in our country. How ‘serious minded’ politicians should see TB Joshua as an election matter remains to be understood. While the respected man of God should be allowed to preach and teach Jesus Christ all over the world, Ghanaians should also get serious with their politics and what the outcome of the elections should be. A word is enough for the wise.

The state funeral service of the late Ghanaian President, Professor John Evan Atta Mills (1944-2012) on Friday 10th August, 2012 had brought diverse people from all over the world, including African leaders. It was one event which moved Ghanaians and the international visitors to tears by virtue of the late president’s personal acumen, sincerity of purpose and focused political career and achievements for the Republic of Ghana, the first African country to attain independence in 1957.

However, why some people decided to shift attention to Prophet T.B. Joshua of The SCOAN, Nigeria, is what is really baffling. One article which was written to openly castigate the man of God, titled, “Ghanaians Vilify Prophet T.B. Joshua” has just been posted on the net, with all signs of evil insinuations, envy and hatred spread out on the page.

According to the writer of the article, Ghanaians allegedly wondered how far Joshua performed as the spiritual father of the late president and even whether president Mills “faith in TB Joshua’s healing power stopped him seeking a more comprehensive treatment for his throat cancer”.

But, though President Mills and Prophet T.B. Joshua shared a spiritual relationship, we wonder how such could have amounted to the late president paying tithes to Prophet TB Joshua from the Ghanaian treasury? Was President Mills the only head of Government to ever make Joshua a spiritual partner? Or was it that Mills was so poor he had to depend on the Ghanaian treasury to pay tithes to a church? Have other world leaders no religions of theirs, to which they give their time and resources? Does that make them steal from their nations’ treasury to serve as tithes anywhere?

And as for his health, did Prof Mills not seek comprehensive treatment for his throat cancer, if that was what he had, in well–known hospitals? Was it documented anywhere that T.B Joshua stopped Prof Mills from seeking medical attention in any part of the world? Did Joshua tell the world that he stopped Prof Mills in seeking medical attention? Are the details not carefully spelt out in his recent sermon, titled “A True Prophet”?

Why also should anyone be concerned with how TB Joshua flew to Ghana as long as he paid his last respects to a great father, inspirer and leader being buried? And did Joshua ever suggest that Ghanaians should never “bother carrying out a probe on President Mills’ death”? Where did he say this, and to whom, and on what occasion?

It is good to remind writers of mischievous articles, who mock the dead, that God insists always: “Do not touch my anointed and do my prophets no harm”. Anybody who ever tries to assassinate the character and integrity of a man of God waits for His wrath, because it is known that TB Joshua does not possess a private jet. We sincerely acknowledge the genuine interest of those Ghanaians who truly see him as a man of God.

Meanwhile, let us wait on God alone to choose a spiritual motivator for the new President in Ghana, John Mahama.

It is equally important that these sponsored writers of diatribes should allow the dear President to rest in peace while they should acknowledge that Joshua is a deep lover of Ghana and he is not a politician contesting political posts. He is a revered man of God.

There is no doubt that the church which should be recognised as the body of Christ, is today suffering on a number of fronts, and for different reasons. While many churches spring up in every corner of the globe, and many pastors – called and uncalled – keep ‘spreading the Word’, it should be expected that the church should be strong, powerful, progressive, fruitful, spiritually fulfilling and humane in disposition.

The church should wear the neat garment of truth, on which misrepresentations should have no impact; it should be the canopy under which spiritual shield may be labourlessly enjoyed and appreciated. God, when He is mentioned, should be in truth; His Word should be quoted and referred to in truth; and His everlasting grace should be a ready-made companion.

The church should exist to give power to His Word; to ascertain the certainty and centrality of His everlasting existence, and give power to the doubtless faithful. It should be the umbrella of truth, giver of hope and source of prophetic veracity. It should be the source of deliverance and healing, where hidden realities of the seen and unseen worlds are discovered. It should be the cornerstone of belief.

But the truth is that the church, since the 20th century (as our contemporary reference) has not been permitted to faithfully observe its functions. Self-antagonism, mischief, rumour-mongering, back-stabbing, name-calling, hatred and blackmail are ‘tools’ which the devil is unceasingly using to distort truth and justice, as symbolically entrenched in the church. Today, there are numerous cases of misrepresentation, self-imposed distorted image, media onslaughts, sponsored attacks and reckless opinions being hatched and celebrated by people and institutions as if these are virtues preached to the human race by the Word!

The church, as understood by some, has no reason to be associated with prophecy and healing; it should be a place where gentle prayers are said, and supported with perhaps, tithing. But the church should be all-embracing, because the devices of the unknown and unseen powers, the forces of darkness, include marginalization, self-hatred, mischief, bitterness, hatred and blasphemy among the followers of Christ. These forces have also been there, but today, the velocity has increased to a deadly shocking level. This is because the more the churches in circulation, the more darkness seems to be covering the fields of performance.

Churches are divided among themselves; some congregants of one denomination never have anything to do with the others from other churches. Men and women of God even spread dangerous rumours and publish horrible propaganda in the name of being the best ever to emerge in Christendom.

The Synagogue Church Of All Nations

The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) has not altogether been seen by some Christians (or so they pledge) as worthy of enjoying God’s grace which it has pleased the LORD it is enjoying today. But it is clear that this church does not have a tradition of antagonising other churches, not even proven antagonists of its processes and essence in society. It does not think much of critics but of how people should accept the faith in truth and complete obedience to the Word. It has a clear agenda as ‘an arena of liberty’ – it is focused, programmatic and progressive in its choice of spiritual curricula; it insists on true deliverance and healing, and of giving to the needy (the poor, hopeless, sick, deprived, hungry, rejected and the alienated). It is focused on empowering the true faithful, with the Word as it should be obeyed and preached.

One of the ways The SCOAN has achieved its focus is the aspect of the recognition of true pastors (evangelists, ministry co-ordinators, prophets etc.). The truth is that people naturally take to preaching the Word or founding ministries just because they happen to attend theological schools. But while such schools have their place in the manifestation of Christian commitment, it has been repeatedly proved that they are sheerly insufficient in producing true men and women of God.

Educative and informative as they may look, there are often missing links in their agenda and curricula. In fact, many products of such schools have been known to fail in doing the expected work of preaching and winning souls. Some have turned out to be betrayers of the faithful and abusers of the Gospel. Some know close to nothing about the ethics and aesthetics of true Christianity, and are simply agents of the devil who insist on monetization of prayers, giving anointing oil, fasting and deliverances. Some even go for the flesh in ‘achieving’ spiritual upliftment: the love of money, fame and position has dwindled the spiritual quality of many minds.

But The SCOAN makes it clear – and there are clear evidences in video, DVD and VCD cassettes, to illustrate the truth of this. Many ‘pastors’ have been discovered to lack spiritual fire; they preach in the midst of total ignorance of the kind of empowerment, which should accompany such works. Such pastors even openly manifest evil machinations, as evil spirits speak through them, when they undergo deliverance. Yet, some of such had preached, sermonised, baptised, delivered and healed people; some also spoke in tongues.

The SCOAN makes it obvious that even the devil has a way of counterfeiting God’s own unique manifestations. The devil can also heal and deliver, but has a way of re-investing greater pains, frustration, helplessness, poverty and unfaithfulness in people. He gives them back a heavier burden while pretending to have saved them. Curious minds will never stop asking why ministers with churches and many years of practice should manifest in The SCOAN, if actually they had been delivered! Deliverance is one word which has been so misunderstood in Christendom – yet it is the backbone of belief and faith. The SCOAN makes sure that the devil and his characteristics are truly pushed off people; they are permanently cast in the pit of hell! Ground-shaking revelations occur when people are being delivered – hidden ‘strengths’ of the devil and his agents and their tools are exposed, which means only true, strong and undiluted faith is needed to be truly delivered. That one wears the colourful cassock or bears names like prophet, prophetess, evangelist, pastor, reverend etc. does not confer true deliverance.

Deliverance at The SCOAN

The evangelical work, claimed Prophet Joshua recently, is the most dangerous work but not many people know this. Spirits and demons have their wicked ways of hitting back at people professing Christianity or calling them evangelists of the faith; they become afflicted with diseases, failures, poverty, hopelessness, nightmares, fears and forms of spiritual attacks. Though holding on to the Bible, they are not immune to strong winds of disgrace and tornadoes of frustration. A man may be a pastor by profession or in words, but not so in heart – according to Joshua. And this is where danger lurks. Insanity, ill-health and even death are located in such realisation. The spirits of lust, poverty, despair, helplessness, sinfulness, hatred and mischief, for example, become part of such fellows; they often love money and fame far more than the work of the Gospel.

Many of such ‘men and women of God’ have come to know the truth about themselves by receiving deliverance at The SCOAN, and, of course, there are other living churches where such takes place.

In The SCOAN, Christians and non-Christians have always received true deliverance, because the Word of God must be pure and thus, sure – in the words of Prophet Joshua. The Holy Spirit has often worked wonders; ancestral spirits, curses, marital failures, economic disempowerment, frustration, shame, impurity, joblessness and afflictions simply give way. Recently, a man who had consumed his and others’ faeces and urine (and his own sperm) for some 16 years was delivered. ‘Pastors’ from all over the world in the grip of satan were delivered. Drug addicts, militants, armed robbers, kidnappers, rapists and ritualists were delivered. And we speak here of permanent deliverance!

God is truth; His Word is true, pure and sure, thus deliverance is power to enlist the service of true faith. It is power to minister to God and to enjoy the benefits of God’s grace. It is the core of spiritual revival. It is freedom from sin, because “It is sin that makes us to be afraid of our heavenly abode” to quote Joshua. He said further that “God answers us if He strengthens us with His strength in our souls, though not with bodily strength”. He believes that “it is God’s Word that establishes; it is His Word that builds”. In other words, to master the truth of deliverance, God’s Word must be an integral part of us!

The roles of the Anointing Water and sticker (which are significant tools in The SCOAN) have been universally acknowledged, as well as their power, assuredness, dependability, reliability and promotion of faithfulness in all who believe. What was thought to be impossible in the world are daily happening at The SCOAN, but not without a price – some Christians find it difficult to agree with its genuineness as a “tool” through which God manifests Himself. Recently, though, Prophet Joshua told his congregants that “In searching for the truth, we must look within and beyond our palace” and that “As truth was older than terror, so it will survive it; it got the start and it will get the race. The day will declare who is in the right and who is in the wrong”.

Finally, he has insisted that God confirms the word of His servants by accomplishing it, by establishing it. God gives being (life) to His Word. You can speak His Word but God speaks life/ being. If He has not given being to His Word, the Word is dead but when He gives that life, the Word becomes life”. The SCOAN, to say the least, is one place in the world where God has indeed made the Word to become life!

Prayers are broadly speaking, the soul of man’s true connection to God. They represent the focused dialogue between man and his God or, when rendered in a quiet manner, they are dedicated monologues in which man passionately seeks God’s love, touch, feeling and favour at any time he so wishes.

The idea of prayers has since become the only major way in which man discusses his interests, dreams and aspirations with his Maker, especially in moments of tribulations, trials, discomfort and helplessness. Moments of sorrow, disappointment, frustration, unease and confusion demand that man turns to the Creator for assistance, attention, support and help. Such expectation becomes intensified when solutions cannot be provided by other men, regardless of their positions in life. In any case, man can be a source of disappointment, betrayal and insensitivity and the required response may never come.

Prayers serve as solutions to human problems because the Creator is not unlistening, unconcerned and unmoved about our circumstances, individually and collectively. God is a symbol of love, understanding and wisdom; He attends to people’s needs but only according to His own wishes because He would not give what will eventually destroy the answer. In the words of the author (An Unknown Christian) of the book The Kneeling Christian, “prayer is the key which unlocks the door of God’s treasure-house…all real growth in the spiritual life – all victory over temptation, all confidence and peace in the presence of difficulties and dangers, all repose of spirit in times of great disappointment or loss, all habitual communion with God – depend upon the practice of secret prayer” and that “the greatest thing we can do for God or for man is to pray. For we can accomplish far more by our prayers than by our work. Prayer is omnipotent; it can do anything that God can do! When we pray, God works. All fruitfulness in service is the outcome of prayer – of the worker’s prayers, or of those who are holding up holy hands on his behalf”.

Prayers progressively signify total submission to God; they are the connecting threads between man and God and significantly symbolize purity of mind and spirit of confidence and courage in what God can do. At The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), the mass prayer occupies a good place in the Sunday service. It often happens at the end of the service as a “purgative measure” since the congregants must have specific prayer points which draw them to God. When it happens, the service must be getting closed and people’s peculiar trials and tribulations must be addressed.

Most often, people are locked up in the dark bottles managed by evil forces and their experiences may be quite extensive – spiritual wives and husbands, joblessness, ancestral curses, overdue pregnancies, frustrated ambitions, bedwetting, nightmares, attacks on family members, etc. Evil forces have often manifested, so impiously, from different angles, reducing people to a mere shadow of themselves. Quite a high number of people had died from overdose of such problems, who were unfortunate to experience spiritual deliverance and breakthroughs. Wicked forces have often been released by the devil to destroy high dreams, pampered ambitions and noble pursuits.

The SCOAN’s mass prayers are often charged with much power. As specific prayer points are dished out by Prophet T.B. Joshua or the Wise Men, people energetically respond to the spiritual rhythms of action to move God into instant response. The prophet addresses the demon who is “using bad habits to connect you to himself” or those crude agents of darkness who have negatively influenced people’s occupations, careers, marital homes, health, businesses and destiny – such forces are ceaselessly attacked in such charged moments to give way to effective deliverance and freedom for the people.

The mass prayer is crafted to reduce to nought “every influence of satan” because “satan is powerless in the face of the sword”, to use Prophet Joshua’s words. The prayer is meant to achieve “salvation of our souls” and to disconnect people from gloomy forces of backwardness, stagnation and negative experiences. As people (those being disturbed by evil forces) drop on the floor in the heat of the earth-shaking prayers, they manifest the ‘spirits’ plaguing them and there have perpetually been such revealed problems as epilepsy, barrenness, immorality, drug addiction, drunkenness, body infections, lunacy, poverty, failure in business and life, curses, etc. Liberation is achieved by people as the Holy Spirit touches them in the ‘arena of liberty’; they are disconnected from inhibiting forces of retrogression and impotence.

One aspect of this situation is that people who fall on the ground start ‘revealing’ themselves as the spirits of destruction and death, speak the kind of upheavals and travails they have created in the lives of the victims. Through this, the congregants are spiritually purged of the spirits of crocodile, pythons, lust, lizard, marine powers and of ancestral idols. Also , some people are restlessly moving up and down the church, stating what evil powers have done in their lives. As the prayer goes on, they are released!

But not every person drops to the floor. Some still manifest while standing. The prophet and Wise Men move around the congregation, touching the people and delivering messages from on high. Most people have forgotten their past, their history and what events shaped their lives in the past. Mistakes were made in the past whose effects may just be revealed today. Even, performances of past ancestors which influence people’s lives today are exposed. People who experience a life of drugs, robbery, cultism, retrogression in work and marital homes, lunacy, joblessness, failure and destruction have been known to have ancestors who performed badly or wickedly in the past. Deliverance and healing are administered and people are freed from odious devourers, demonic powers and fruitless toiling. Breakthroughs are unquestionably obtained through favours, protection, success, abundance, prosperity and grace of the Most High. Sometimes, the enchanted congregants reveal stories of how they saw Prophet Joshua in the dream, working through for their liberation.

Equally important is that the mass prayer is often directed at “viewers from all over the world” (and this is achieved through Emmanuel TV). People are encouraged to touch their screens because “distance is not a barrier”. There had been thousands of testimonies of people who were delivered by obeying the ‘anointed’ voice by touching or pointing at the screen; they were liberated from drunkenness, suicide, drug addiction, cancer, impotence, ulcers, sickness, ritualism, infections (including HIV/AIDS), marital instability, poverty, nightmares, migraines, painful body parts, charcoal and sand eating, fear, etc.

The mass prayer in The SCOAN is an opportunity for mass deliverance and healing; it is a forum for remarkable experience of freedom from plagues of social inconsequence, sicknesses and moral recklessness. It supplies spiritual energy into people and encourages their spirit of confidence in what God can do for them. It provides foundation and a reason for their faith and strengthens their spiritual desires. Shortly after such a prayer, the congregants’ spirits become renewed and reinvigorated. Millions of people are always prepared to give testimonies on what the mass prayer has done for them, over the years.

Fajenyo and Patrick are authors and Fellows of the Social Engineering and Research Initiative (SERI)

The concepts of deliverance and healing may not be new to Christians who have quite a significant knowledge of the Word, the breath of God. The notion of becoming born-again (a spirit of newness and radical transformation) is derived from the experience of deliverance. And every Christian wants to be seen as being delivered; born of water and Holy Spirit and become anew in his/her relationship with God. Deliverance has to be perfect; it should be a new experience which comes when a man is separated from unholiness and impurities of life. It is generally understood as a process of separation between light and darkness; it brings about a distance between light and darkness. It has to do with renewed cordiality with Jesus, the symbol of light, who must quench the ignoble traffic of blindness, evil, darkness, and spiritual terrorism in people.

Delivered and free

During a recent Sunday service, Prophet T.B. Joshua had tried to explain in detail what deliverance means. He said the spirit of darkness has to engage the world that it is obvious that it has become an object of worship to some. It is in recognition of the power of darkness that deliverance must be practically potent. Darkness is responsible for bad leadership, family disunity, greed, insubordination, immorality and attachment to the idols, to name a few instances. Most kids involved in cultism, rape, stealing and drugs are propelled by forces of darkness, but so are the elders, the parents who have polluted the political, economic and social space in society. People are in bondage today as seen in marital unhappiness, lack of innate peace, and quest for satanic powers; many people are jobless, hopeless and helpless because they are trapped.

One point which Prophet Joshua made clear is that it is quite possible for a man to confess God and still be in bondage, unless a permanent deliverance occurs in the life of such a person. The knowledge of God is not sufficient for man, but the ability to have God’s Spirit. He has said repeatedly that “not only must we have God’s Word in order to be born again, or to become a pastor; we must have God’s Spirit”.

This seems to be a response to the fact that most people who claim to have been delivered, and have become born again, are in truth very far from the orientation. Their deliverance has been most suspect, hollow and spiritually inconsequential. Such deliverance happened by words of the mouth and lacks spiritual potency and celestial grace. Most pastors who engage in delivering and healing people these days are themselves in need of the same process – they are gripped and menaced by the devil. Satan is cunning and hypocritical, and has his own ways of instilling his presence in the lives of people. For the Kingdom of Light to have impact on people, their spiritual life has to be operated upon, to remove the filths and impurities planted in them by satan. This is the essence of deliverance.

This is why Prophet Joshua speaks often that there are two kinds of pastors: there are those who commit the words of God into memory, and teach and preach with same (most of the modern pastors belong here as they have the ability to quote extensively without the necessary authority to achieve their mission). The second group is for pastors “who can move mountains”; those who commit the Word into their hearts (by making same an integral part of themselves). They know of God’s ways; they act with God, and know His opinion about themselves and others. And “when something is part of you, it dictates to you; it is your director. When you memorize, you will confess but not from your belief”, the prophet has said.

He also established that before something becomes one’s belief, it must become an integral part of the person, as “our faith is in our heart”. He said in a contest between light and darkness, light must have victory, which is what deliverance is. He said that these days “people are not sure of themselves again”, for they may be in the arms of evil forces and yet proclaim the almightiness of God. This is true, as seen in the examples of many pastors (with ministries or churches) who had negative, influencing spirits coming to The SCOAN and other living churches to receive deliverance.

He said while 20% of the people are ignorant of such evil forces, 70% of them are aware. However, the problem has always been how to combat same. Most deliverances in many places are not thorough, sincere, effective and God-inspired. Indeed, not all those who call the name of the Lord, and do His will, will enter the Kingdom of God. Deliverance is therefore, an integral part of belief; it is the preamble to the exercise of that belief. Without it, belief is sheer dramatics. He said: “Our lives are not what we confess” as we often confess blessing but experience poverty; confess breakthroughs but experience stagnation and failure. Words said without adequate form of deliverance are a package in empty encounters. He said: “No one can say, Jesus is Lord genuinely unless he is genuinely delivered”, and that “our God is Spirit; those who confess Him must do so in Spirit and truth”.

Deliverance is associated with the use of power because as Prophet Joshua said, “Divine nature must be of holiness”. You have no control of your divine nature”. In other words, “If you yield to light, light takes control of your divine nature”; no man can use the power given by the Holy Spirit at his own will; it has to be by the will of the Father. And such power will have to be original, and not a photocopy. The use of original power must lead to true deliverance because “if you are praying and not delivered, it’s like you are calling your father at home,” said Prophet Joshua.

The problem, nowadays, is that rather than recognizing the different graces bestowed upon each other, denominational difference are rather projected in Christianity. As such occurs, love is killed, faith is brutalized and deliverances become hollow and impotent of effect. Some Christians have seen churches as running a race; they speak of the number of worshippers rather that those being truly saved. Yet, the apostles of Jesus worked as one; they acted in oneness to achieve great effects as recorded in the Holy Bible. Joshua preaches today that the gifts of God may be enjoyed if churches are interdependent and pastors believe in collective approach to God through true deliverance. Today, people are departing from the way of the Lord, and “people should avoid being wasted”, he emphasised.

Prophet TB Joshua celebrated his 49th birthday on the 12th of June, 2012. Rather than absolute concentration on programmes of celebration and jollity which attend such events (especially considering the fact that The SCOAN has successfully operated as a tool of light for more than 20 years), the prophet had specifically asked the world to pray for him ‘as you have been doing’. He was responding to what God said; he was obeying a divine assignment – an assignment which has kept assisting humanity to grow and expand; an assignment which points to what should be the fulfillment of a perfect relationship between God and man.

As a special gift of God on earth in this troubled moment, Prophet T.B. Joshua certainly needs prayers because he has been engaged in the assignment of deliverance and healing for upward of over 20 years, which shows that he has been in direct conflict with the powers of darkness. These powers which have engulfed the world have kept destroying men and their lives; and poisoned their existence. Many have died, and many are in a state of permanent frustration and confusion who should be set free. Joshua has been an agent in this uphill task of freeing the citizens of God; people who have kept being menaced by forces of retrogression, entanglement and traps. Disease and affliction have been walking the streets of human societies in contemporary times until T.B. Joshua was inspired by God to become an agent of deliverance and righteous living. Joshua, today, is a celebrated world prophet. And as he told “The Economist” magazine (July 7th – 13th, 2012), “It doesn’t matter how many people come to services. It’s about how many people are being saved”. Gifted with exemplary humility, simplicity and touching goodness, Joshua is an example of the persecuted who has received God’s grace.

Prophet Joshua, during his birthday, had asked for prayers. The church should be committed to the salvation of the human spirit. Joshua did not fail to, therefore, ask the people: “Don’t stop praying for me! You can see the result of your prayer is obvious”. He had added: “Anywhere you are, pray for me. While praying, remember those who are in need of what you have – your love, your care, and your possession”. In other words, he was not only calling on people to pray, but to be good neighbours with others; to support the hopeless and poor, and those without means of livelihood. These commitments have been the trademark of Joshua’s own life – a life of assisting the poor, helping the needy, raising the young, and drawing people to Christ.

Another significant statement Prophet Joshua made during the birthday was that: “The gift I am praying for and expecting from God is to add more wise men and also give wise women in those areas of healing and deliverance, and endow them with prophetic gift not only within the church but prophesying to the nations and the world at large. This is because there is so much work but few labourers. God should add to His labourers, in Jesus’ name”.

Why did he insist on more wise men and wise women? The church is in need of help because satan is spreading evil around, among men, to jeopardize their existence. In the church, deliverance and healing and salvation are no longer discussed and prayed on; what is holding sway is the quest for materialism and wealth.

A lot of men and women of God have been desecrated in mind and belief. Important also is that sufficient souls have not been won for Christ. There are no sufficient labourers to win such souls, and those who do not hear the Word of Christ must hear the word of satan. True laborers are critically few. Though there are many people holding on to the fact that they are pastors, evangelists, prophets and apostles, most of these are yet to be truly delivered, in the true sense of the word. The exercise of owning a ministry or a church or doing evangelism from one part of society to the other is not a signal that deliverance has been experienced.

As shown by hundreds of examples from deliverances in The SCOAN, many pastors are yet to be left alone by satanic agents; their knowledge of the Word is yet to be an integral part of them. Hundreds still confess to being possessed or afflicted by evil forces, which traumatize their lives and ministerial work. It is often shocking to hear such men and women of God confessing, through the influence of evil forces, that they hate Jesus and Christians, and are representatives of ancestral forces, pythons, spiritual husband and wives, crocodiles, mammy water etc.

Such people cannot be described as labourers for Christ, unless delivered. In The SCOAN, are five Wise Men who carry equal fire to deliver, like Prophet Joshua. The Wise Men have done a lot of deliverances for hundreds of such pastors. To be in the pastoral profession does not confer anyone to be innately qualified as a practitioner; a pastor should be ‘a doer of the Word, and grow day by day to gain supremacy over one,’ to quote Joshua. He referred to the Bible, which must be given life in the learner, because Christ and the Word are one. Knowing the Bible is not knowing Christ. There is no disparity, no half-knowledge. Joshua said, ‘God’s power working through His Word and His Spirit brings about a new birth.’ Such should be about bringing forth fruits.

Prophet Joshua insisted in his recent sermons that ‘you cannot build one up spiritually on philosophies or theories about the Word or on the history of the Word. We are made spiritual by living in the Word and the Word living in us.’

These facts point to the relevance of the kind of powers which the labourers in the vineyard should have, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A heart which is blessed with an integral knowledge of the Word should belong to a true labourer. Millions of people all over the world are in need of freedom from bondages, diseases and afflictions, and the labourers have to be competent in all manifestations. To train a labourer is not easy; it takes time and preparation. ‘What is the process of belief, the ingredients?’ asked recently by Prophet T.B. Joshua. The process is attained through faith which is ‘not imitation.’

The true labourers know that it takes a lot of time, knowledge and commitment to achieve perfection in the job, especially since, ‘God is Spirit; anything of God must also be spiritual.’ Prophet Joshua said that ‘studying the Word’ should not be sufficient for a labourer. He ‘should be able to act upon it and the spirit is renewed.’

The church needs labourers who must act, do and live the Word. This is the only way to attain universal deliverance and healing. ‘What a danger if there is no corresponding action,’ said Prophet Joshua recently.

Fajenyo and Patrick are foremost journalists and Fellows of Social Engineering Research Initiative.

The Nigerian international image has been bastardized over the years by a number of factors. The unattractive, frighteningly threatening image has been a result of the questionable attitude of some Nigerians who specialize in certificate racketeering, internet fraud, robbery, drug business, credit card manipulations and prostitution.
Though some of these people left Nigeria to foreign countries to pursue “greener pastures” as professionals, scholars, and menial workers hoping to be gainfully employed to better their individual lot, the situation often changed when they got there. In desperation and without respect for the legal system operating in these countries, some Nigerians embraced the shameful culture of devilish acrobatics, dangerously cutting corners and polluting their environments with pestilential social commitments.

Nigerians in foreign countries are hardly ever respected, with some of them facing racial antagonisms and hatred in places. Some are perpetually marginalized in work places, while some are confined to menial jobs despite their experience and qualification.

Some are molested and humiliated in garages, railway stations, airports and in places of their work. The security officials in some places do not allow Nigerians to experience peace. But this has to be understood from the perspective of the fact that some Nigerians (of course, some other blacks from Africa) make life difficult for themselves. Drug business, credit card abuses and prostitution are three major problem areas. Most Nigerians often disrespect the laid down rules. They create measures to distort the existing system and even endanger the commitments of the positive-minded ones. Foreigners do not believe Nigerians with ease in any form of transaction. The recent misunderstanding between Nigeria and South Africa, in which some Nigerians had to be deported on very flimsy grounds (Nigeria also retaliated), was an ample illustration of this reality. Many Nigerians are in prison (and terribly molested and maltreated) in places like Italy, China, USA, Asian countries and the United Kingdom, even when some did not commit the offences slapped on them. Reports daily published or aired in some media establishments on the situation with Nigerians in foreign countries are terribly shocking. The harshness and inhuman treatments meted out to young Nigerians passing through the Trans-Sahara routes to enter the likes of Libya or Spain or Morocco are too disturbingly frightening to be believed.

The Federal Government of Nigeria had some programmes meant to refurbish Nigeria’s image at different times. Every past government had flouted different programmes aimed at restructuring the country’s image, spending billions of naira and recruiting image-launderers – all of which did not yield much fruit. In fact, some Nigerians happened to be involved in making a mockery of such efforts, while praying for opportunities to go and withstand any ‘molestation’ outside (in order to attract hard currency) instead of remaining in poverty and darkness which have ruined millions of people.

Today, many Nigerians are ‘champions’ as jail birds in different parts of the world. Many had been sent out of their chosen countries by the indigenous legal system; some had been killed. Many are rubbished at the airports, regardless of their positions in society. Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate, had suffered such in South Africa (even when he had gone to deliver a lecture in honour of Dr Nelson Mandela, that country’s former President), as well as General Yakubu Gowon (Nigeria’s former Head of State). Tens of government officials had suffered in the hands of foreign security agents. The situation has not changed drastically.

This is where Emmanuel TV, the media organ of The SCOAN comes in. Founded six years ago, this extensively-received television outfit is managed by well-tested, committed, hardworking and result-oriented staff, all of whom are loyal to The SCOAN and TB Joshua.

One feature of this television outlet is its ability to reach all corners of the globe with scintillating messages of prophetic hope and truth, images of Nigerians and foreigners (from the USA, Africa, Asia, Europe) who receive deliverance, healing and spiritual transformation in their millions. Though The SCOAN came into operation some 23 years ago, the station (which is six years this year) has perpetually beamed spiritual light far and near and the beneficiaries have not been limited to those who personally visit the headquarters of the ministry. Such beneficiaries include people who wisely place their hands on its screen to receive their answers from God (as distance is not a barrier!) on issues of family curses, diseases, nightmares, sicknesses, confusion, marital difficulties, spiritual wives and husbands, ancestral manipulations and madness. Without ever stepping into the church, thousands of people all over the universe do receive God’s mercy and favour, spirits are destroyed, homes are unified and peace and tranquility experienced. Businesses which failed are restored and evil plans on people exposed.

The station has also created a platform of integration among people who believe in the “strength and power” in The SCOAN. In countries as Namibia, USA, Ghana, Pakistan and South Africa, Emmanuel TV Partners have kept emerging and attending faithfully to the unfortunate ones in the prisons and also the orphans, widows, widowers, physically-challenged, the hungry, diseased, sick and hopeless. The partners have been deeply committed and progressive in orientation and are ever cheerful on the number of people’s lives that they touch. Clothes, food, bedding, money and accommodation are often provided in a gesture of love since God insists that we are our neighbours’ keepers. The partners have been active, sensitive and happy doing what God has chosen them to do and they are reaching out to the less privileged and the hopeless, starved, sick and terrified. Of course, the philanthropic gestures of Prophet T.B. Joshua are being widely imitated by the beautiful-minded partners all over the world and they keep attracting applause from the leaders and the led, young and old, men and women across the globe. Their actions have enriched humanity with virtues of goodness, Godliness, helpfulness, love, kindness, sincerity, hopefulness, humility and sensitivity to people’s plights.

Emmanuel TV is being empowered as a reliable channel of information (it is on the internet at http://www.emmanuel.tv) on life generally – its hardship, disturbances and the role of satan in human affairs, the role of evil spirits and what is needed to get emancipated from the manacles put in place by the terrible spirits (from water, trees, family background, environments, etc). The channel has helped to universalize such realities as “the miraculous healings, deliverances and accurate messages of prophecy every service day but also for the works of charity towards the less privileged, physically challenged, widows and widowers, orphans, little people and the citizens of the earthquake-ravaged nation of Haiti and others” (as indicated in the volumes of the book, What The Future Holds). The channel actually makes the ministry an international one and what happens in the main branches (Greece, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa) are beamed to the world. There is the air of active centralization of information and education concerning the church, which is projected through the channel.

The station is effectively packaged by qualitative, serious-minded and focused staff, making use of up-to-date gadgets and well-arranged and well-programmed computer facilities to make The SCOAN’s activities reach the four walls of the universe. Significantly, these well-motivated staff are well-groomed to produce VCD and DVD cassettes which are sold to the public, aside serving as reliable library for past sermons and deliverance and prophetic activities. Interestingly too, most staff are also from different parts of the world and are effectively involved in the day-to-day management of the ministry.

Emmanuel TV has served as a channel through which important messages are urgently sent to the world. These include Prophet Joshua’s prophecies (some of which are earth-shaking!). The world has benefitted from political, economic, social and spiritual revelations which have kept benefitting presidents, prime ministers, business gurus, artistes, diplomats, etc. The Wise Men, who are also active spiritual leaders in the church, are often shown on this channel, preaching and delivering people.

The idea of writing on Emmanuel TV is to project the kind of image it has assisted Nigeria to sell to the rest of the world. The channel has benefitted all religious groups (Christians, Muslims and other believers). It has convinced people that Nigeria is not all about odious negativity and seedy stagnation but a place which is capable of producing world-acclaimed citizens like Prophet T.B. Joshua. Joshua is an international preacher, Bible expositor, philanthropist, spiritual leader, inspirer and mentor to Nigerians and international citizens. Highly respected for his profound humility and sense of humanity, he has shown the world that Nigeria is a peaceful place (The SCOAN is a centre of peace and tranquillity) to which diverse people can meet and unify as members of the human race. Those people (foreigners) who are often afraid of Nigerians, think and act differently whenever they come to The SCOAN – a home of Godliness, belief and nobility of character. The channel has attracted diverse people from USA, Europe, Asia and parts of Africa. Prophet Joshua and the Wise Men have also successfully performed revivals in other parts of the world and are shown on this moving channel. Music is being dished out to people through the Emmanuel Singers on the channel.

It is wrong to see the channel alone as a basically Christian-promoting one but as a moral-inducing, social-training and good economics-inspiring platform, whose clear messages have enriched humanity. It has changed the feeling of non-Nigerians who used to see the country as a dark den of vicious robbers and hiding place for violent criminals, drug addicts and prostitutes. Nigeria is a great country – only if the citizens could attempt to do what Joshua and his team are doing – opening doors for noble minds and seasoned and intelligent workers, believers and preachers. It is a country indeed, where the sick, hopeless and helpless can regain freedom and tenor of their humanity.

Fajenyo and Patrick are foremost journalists and Fellows of Social Engineering Research Initiative.